The Art of Absence and Return in Martin Chuzzlewit

Abstract:Martin Chuzzlewit represents a departure, prior to Dombey and Son, from the episodic form, interpolated tales, and backstories of Dickens's earlier works, as his preface implies. A key element would be careful attention to the implicit existence of characters when they are suspended: either off scene or not the object of direct narration. Seven distinct manifestations appear in the course of the narrative. The resurrection of a presumed-dead character is the most obvious and least common. A second category of suspension is deliberately and teasingly unexplained. For the third category, suspended characters are assumed to be doing their jobs or following known interests. In the fourth category are those characters whose return to scene requires explanation. The fifth category of suspension, the informational, allows characters to discover or withhold information. In the sixth category, suspension is deployed by a character in order to manipulate others. Unique in the last category, Mrs. Gamp's absent friend, Mrs. Harris, exists only in suspension. While some instances may seem contrived or strained, they attest to the virtuosity of Dickens's response to the possibilities of developing characters and plot by means of suspension.